A packaging unit for packaging pharmaceuticals into a pouch includes packaging equipment operable to form the pouch, a track configured to direct the pharmaceuticals toward the packaging equipment, and a receptacle coupled to the track upstream of the packaging equipment to receive the pharmaceuticals from the track. The receptacle includes a plunger. The pouch is formed around the plunger.

In one embodiment, a system includes: a robotic arm assembly; a plurality of components arranged around the robotic arm assembly and positioned within reach of the robotic arm assembly; and a controller configured to control operation of the robotic arm assembly within the system. Each of the plurality of components is configured to either: store ingredients under predetermined environmental conditions; store food preparation tools; dispense ingredients; blend, cook, or assemble ingredients into a completed food item; provide cleaning functionality to the system and/or components thereof; provide user access to completed food items; or display information relevant to a food item or preparation thereof to users. Methods of using such systems to prepare and dispense food items are also disclosed, and generally include translating recipes into instructions executable by the robotic arm assembly and/or components of the system, communicating such instructions to the robotic arm assembly, and executing such instructions.

An interactive vending system includes at least one vending machine, at least one portable device, a management server and two routers. The first router is connected to the vending machine, thereby connecting the vending machine to the internet. The portable device is connected to the internet. The second router is connected to the management server, thereby connecting the management server to the internet.

The present application is directed to a robotic system for maintaining product inventory and dispensing products upon request from a customer or other user. Product items are stored within bins in an inventory storage unit, with respective sets of bins being hosted in respective storage cells of the inventory storage unit. As discussed herein, variety of sensors are designed to interface with robot operations of the inventory storage unit, to detect abnormal and error conditions, and to allow adaptation where possible to continue retrieval, access, and storage operations. As also discussed herein, operation of the robot may be controlled as a result of various user interface interactions, including interactions from remote computing devices such as smartphones and remote systems such as websites and inventory or retail management systems.

The medicament dispensing machine enables to use vials having various sizes and shapes without changing a part in the machine or without performing a special operation. The medicament dispensing machine contains a discharging unit that receives a vial filled with a medicament from a medicament filling means and discharges out of a vial discharging window. The discharging unit contains a vial gripping means having a pair of gripping arms that grip a vial, a body of gripping means having the vial gripping means, a moving means that moves the vial gripping means from the medicament filling means to the vial discharging window, and an orientation changing mechanism that changes the orientation of the body of gripping means. With a coordination of the movement of the body of gripping means toward the vial discharging window, the orientation changing mechanism makes the gripping arms orient to the vial discharging window.

Provided is an automatic column setting device for an article vending machine. The device is for an article vending machine 1 including a column in an article storing shelf 13, to store articles arranged in a front-rear direction, and a dispensing mechanism 55 removably installed for the column in the shelf 13, to sequentially dispense the stored articles, the mechanism 55 is arbitrarily installable at a plurality of preset right and left positions in the shelf 13, and the automatic column setting device includes a motor presence/absence information preparing section 81 that detects an installation position of motor 61 in accordance with a connected state of motor 61, and a pattern extracting section 82 that determines a type and an installation position of the mechanism 55 in the shelf 13 based on presence/absence information of motor 61 that is detected by the motor presence/absence information preparing section 81.

An automatic vending machine for boxed frozen and hot food includes a cupboard, a refrigeration device, racks, an oven, a robotic picking system, a feeding slot and a conveyor board. The refrigeration device and the oven are installed in a first accommodation space and a second accommodation space of the cupboard respectively, and the interior of the first accommodation space is formed into a placing space by a rack for putting food boxes. The robotic picking system picks one of the food boxes and moves it sideway into the oven for heating, and a moving tray in the oven and the conveyor board move the food box into the feeding slot in a seesaw gravitational sliding manner for delivery.

A vending machine system for loading and dispensing pre-baked unpackaged food including a fixed cartridge disposed in a refrigerator of a vending machine, and a transport cartridge adapted to removably attach to the fixed cartridge, the transport cartridge operable for holding trays of unpackaged food and loading the trays of unpackaged food from the transport cartridge into the fixed cartridge, wherein, when the transport cartridge is removably attached to the fixed cartridge, a front opening of the transport cartridge aligns with a front opening of the fixed cartridge, and wherein the rack of the transport cartridge aligns with the conveyor system of the fixed cartridge such that trays of unpackaged food within the transport cartridge can simultaneously be transitioned from the rack to the conveyor system.

An automated store includes a modular shelving structure and an autonomous robotic apparatus that operates to transfer items to and from the shelving structure.

A multi-temperature, intelligent storage and retrieval system and methods to facilitate un-attended pick-up of orders by customers, which is particularly applicable to grocery purchases.